As for McKenna's use of drugs to get a better grip on reality as it were - which is sort of contradictory if you know what I mean - obviously this doesn't lend more credibility to this sort of material than would have been the case without it....

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 43785235

What the hell do you think the mayans were doing??

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1466471

To the Mayas, the gods of their religion were real entities. They were an ancient people to whom contact with their gods was not contradicted by modern science and for whom use of mushrooms (or any similar practices) would be regulated by their religion. And as said in the article, they didn't even in fact predict 2012, but some New Age gurus did.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 43785235

The Maya were hardly "ancient"

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 42392596

To all intents and purposes - yes, they were.They only were contacted by modern civilization (remember, we are living in modern times which started only with the Renaissance or somewhere in the 1400's) a few centuries ago.The fact they were living in the 1600's does not imply they were a modern people.